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DGCA unit to monitor aircraft emissions

New Delhi, Jun 20, 2013, PTI:

Aviation regulator Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is to set up an environment task force to monitor and check carbon emissions released by aircraft operating in the country and are to ask all Indian carriers to set up similar cells of their own.

The decision of the DGCA comes at a time when the UN body, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), is working on global market-based measures to check aviation emissions.

India, along with Russia, China, the US and several other nations, has been strongly opposing European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) on the grounds that it unilaterally imposes hefty taxes on all air operations across the European skies, violating international rules. The countries want the ICAO to evolve global rules on the issue.

In a latest circular, the DGCA has decided to establish an aviation climate change task force with stakeholders to assess trends in carbon emissions, facilitate data collection and analysis and formulate new initiatives to curb emissions in the skies and on the ground (at airports).

It has also asked all scheduled airlines and airport operators, with over 50,000 movements per year, to set up Aviation Environment Cells within their organisations, headed by an environmental matter expert.

The decision will make all airlines set up cells to keep tabs on their carbon emissions and to take voluntary measures to reduce them.